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Actors, Agents and Attendants II: Social Housing - Housing the Social

14th-29th October 2011

Actors, Agents and Attendants II: Social Housing - Housing the Social
FILM PROGRAMME
OCTOBER 2011, AMSTERDAM

The second edition of a series of symposia initiated by SKOR | Foundation for Art and Public Domain.

A series of screenings, within the prologue events leading to the symposium Social Housing - Housing the Social, initiated by SKOR | Foundation for Art and Public Domain. The symposium emphasizes the relationship between the waning political and practical imperative of social housing and the broader conceptual or philosophical idea of housing the social. Recently, an unprecedented number of films, documentaries and art videos have been made around the more than ever pressing issues of social housing, gentrification and urban renewal. This film programme aims to move beyond the issue of social housing into the more challenging and new concept of housing the social, serving as a platform to introduce the main topics and questions that are raised during the symposium on November 4 and 5, 2011 in Felix Meritis, Amsterdam.

The screening events are spread out over the four wings of the city: Open Coop in the North, De Nieuwe Anita in the West, Delicatessen Zeeburg in the East and Kriterion in the Center.

Curators Film Programme Yael Messer and Gilad Reich
Assistant Laura Pardo

View the full symposium programme of November 4 and 5, 2011 here
Register before October 30, 2011 here

  • FRIDAY OCTOBER 14, 2011 AT 8:30 PM
    Session 1: Lost Communities
    Film:
    Public Housing by Fredrick Wiseman, USA, 1997 (Released: 1999), 200 min.
    Venue: Open Coop, Tolhuisweg 2, Amsterdam
    FREE ADMISSION:
    This legendary film documents daily life at the Ida B. Wells public housing development in Chicago. The film illustrates some of the experiences of people living in conditions of extreme poverty. It raises many of the issues that are usually related to discussions on public housing: encounters between the inhabitants and the authorities, isolation, crime and resourcefulness.
  • THURSDAY OCTOBER 20, 2011 AT 8:30 PM
    Session 2: Getting Together
    Film:
    Together by Lukas Moodysson, Sweden, 2000, 106 min.
    Venue: De Nieuwe Anita, Frederik Hendrikstraat 111, Amsterdam
    FREE ADMISSION:
    Moodysson's film brings the story of life in a commune outside Stockholm in the year 1975. All the well know difficulties of communal living are exhibited in this sharp and witty movie, alongside with moments of joy and happiness. The film allows us to rethink the idea of communal life as it was, and draw our own conclusions about the present.
  • WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 26, 2011 AT 8:30 PM
    Session 3: Gentrification
    Film:
    Flag Wars by Linda Goode Bryant & Laura Poitras, USA, 2003, 86 min.
    Art Video: Look Out! by Johanna Billing, UK, Prod. Milch, London, 2003
    Venue: Delicatessen Zeeburg, Sumatrastraat 32, Amsterdam
    FREE ADMISSION:
    Flag Wars is a stark look upon the conflicts that surfaced when the black working-class families in the suburbs of Columbus Ohio were faced with an influx of white gay homebuyers in their neighbourhood. Filmed over four years, Flag Wars 'as-it-is-happening' style captures the raw emotions and blunt honesty of unguarded moments as tensions mount between neighbours. Johanna Billing's work Look Out! records a situation in which an estate agent shows a group of young adults new living units. Billing reflects the tension between run-down social housing projects and new, sterile and luxury apartments. By doing so it exhibits the inner contrast between young individuals today and the responsibilities that we all have as members of society. The work was shot in what used to be the famous Gainsborough Studios in east London.
  • SATURDAY OCTOBER 29, 2011 AT 3 PM
    Session 4: New Communities
    Film:
    California Dreaming by Bregtje van der Haak, The Netherlands, 2010, 49 min.
    Art Video: Project Cabrini Green by Jan Tichy, 2011 (presentation and screening), 10 min.
    Venue: Kriterion, Roetersstraat 170, Amsterdam
    FREE ADMISSION:
    California Dreaming follows a number of people who have been directly affected by the American economic crisis. While some of the stories show the struggle to survive under the new precarious conditions of life, others bring optimism into the American dream by exhibiting different forms of socialization and alternative living. Project Cabrini Green is a community-based art project and light installation, where Tichy and his students lit up a neighbourhood building which was about to be demolished. The light installation was visible in the evenings during the four-week demolition period. As the building was demolished, the lights went down, along with the building.
Still from California Dreaming by Bregtje van der Haak, The Netherlands, 2010 ©VPRO

Still from California Dreaming by Bregtje van der Haak, The Netherlands, 2010 ©VPRO